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Military  Order  of  the  Loyal  Legion 
War  ^aper  4-0 
Last  of  the  Blockade 


STEPHEN  Bo  WEEKS 

CLASS  OF  1886:  PUD.  THE  JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY 


OF  THE 

CMVERSOY  OF  N©M1  CAROLINA 
TIE  WEEKS  C0LUECTKDN 

OF 


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JVTilitary  Order 


of  the 

loyal  legion 

of  tfye 

I  Tinted  states 


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COMMANDERY  OF  THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA. 


KffiSfflSffi 


WAR    PAPER    40. 


^e    kast    of   t^e    ^loctyade    and    tqe 
|^all  of  j^ort  fisher. 


Military  ©rder  of  tfye  bo^al  tae^ion 


United  §tafes. 


dOMMAWDEI^Y  OF  THE  DI^lCT  OF  CDLIiqBI^. 


WAR    PAPERS. 

40 

The  £ast  of  the  Blockade  and  the  "Fall  of  Fort  "Fisher. 

PREPARED  BY  COMPANION 
Acting  Master 

FRANCIS  P.  B.  SANDS, 

Late  U.  S.  N. 

AND 

READ  AT  THE  STATED  MEETING  OF  MARCH  5,  1902. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2013 


http://archive.org/details/lastofblockadefaOOsand 


no 


Me  tot  of  the  IHfldtttde  and  the  Jail  oi  $ovt 

Jfeher. 


In  the  autumn  of  the  year  1862  the  sloop  of  war  Dacotah, 
commanded  by  my  father,  Captain  Benjamin  F.  Sands,  was 
ordered  to  duty  off  the  entrances  to  Cape  Fear  river,  where 
there  were  but  eight  or  ten  vessels  then  engaged  on  blockading 
service. 

As  an  acting  ensign  on  that  vessel  I  began  my  experiences 
in  active  service  in  the  war  for  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion. 

The  need  for  supplies  for  the  Confederate  armies  in  the 
Carolinas  and  Virginia,  and  the  great  profit  in  cotton  from  the 
Southern  States  had  brought  forward  from  England  a  large 
number  of  daring  spirits,  who,  for  the  great  gain  of  the  ventures 
and  the  excitement  attending  the  traffic,  were  willing  to  dare 
the  risks  of  blockade  running;  and  month  by  month  their 
numbers  increased. 

Charleston  and  Wilmington  were  the  principal  objective 
points  for  such  ventures,  and  as  the  numbers  of  the  successful 
trips  increased  the  Federal  Government  taxed  every  resource 
to  multiply  the  number  of  vessels  in  front  of  those  seaports, 
and  off  the  many  inlets  along  the  Atlantic  coast. 

All  sorts  and  kinds  of  steamers  were  bought  and  fitted 
out  with  batteries  of  Parrot  guns  and  howitzers ;  and  the  list 
of  volunteer  officers,  taken  principally  from  the  merchant 
marine,  was  rapidly  increased  to  officer  and  man  these  im- 
provised gunboats,  which  were  hurried  to  duty  in  the  blockade 
squadrons. 


As  these  vessels  drew  more  closely  their  lines  of  blockade, 
the  Confederates  increased  the  number  and  strength  of  their 
forts  and  batteries,  equipping  them  with  the  most  advanced 
types  of  rifled  guns  that  could  be  procured  abroad. 

The  Armstrong  150-pounder;  the  8-inch  Blakelys,  and  the 
famous  Whitworth  guns  soon  appeared  in  these  forts,  and  pro- 
tected the  approach  of  the  blockade-runners  after  they  had 
passed  stealthily  our  outer  line  of  blockade. 

One  of  the  most  capable,  untiring  and  efficient  of  the  Con- 
federate officers  in  that  department  was  Colonel  William  Lamb 
who  was  on  duty  in  command  of  Fort  Fisher  from  July,  1862, 
down  to  the  date  of  its  capture ,  in  January ,  1865. 

Old  Fort  Caswell,  at  the  Western  Bar  entrance,  had  been 
improved  beyond  recognition  by  earthen  traverses  to  protect 
its  barbette  guns,  and  near  Bald  Head  Light,  on  Smith's 
Island,  just  opposite  "Caswell,"  the  addition  of  several  bat- 
teries with  Whitworth  guns  had  made  reasonably  secure  that 
entrance  to  the  river. 

From  time  to  time,  when  seeking  to  follow  in  and  destroy 
the  blockade-runners  near  the  bar,  the  greater  range  of  those 
guns  forced  our  vessels  to  seek  safety  at  a  respectful  distance 
from  shore. 

When  Col.  Lamb  assumed  command  of  the  works  on 
Federal  point,  they  consisted  (as  he  has  since  informed  me)  of 
only  a  quadrilateral  field  work,  one  casemated  work,  with  four 
8-inch  columbiads,  and  a  one-gun  battery.  Only  17  guns  in 
all  were  there. 

As  the  daring  and  numbers  of  the  blockade-runners  increased, 
so  the  numbers  and  vigilance  of  our  blockading  vessels  became 
greater.  Our  steamers  kept  in  closer  to  the  river  entrances, 
and  frequently  chased  the  runners  quite  near  to  the  shore  bat- 
teries, occasionally  driving  them  on  the  beach  where  they 


IS 


were  destroyed  by  our  shot  and  shell.  The  wrecks  of  the 
Ella,  the  Kate,  the  Hebe,  the  Venus,  the  Arabian  and  the 
Lynx,  long  remained  on  the  beach  in  testimony  of  the  good 
work  done  by  us. 

Colonel  Lamb  says  that  there  were  ioo  vessels  engaged 
during  that  war  in  running  the  blockade  to  reach  Wilmington 
alone;  and  that  of  these  65  were  either  captured  or  destroyed. 
We  knew  of  24  actually  destroyed  by  our  fleet  there. 

The  New  Inlet  entrance  was  the  favorite  one  for  running. 
So  important  did  the  traffic  become  to  the  Confederacy  in 
1  863-4,  that  the  enemy  had  built  a  powerful  ram  to  come  out 
on  dark  .nights  to  drive  our  vessels  away,  or  by  creating  a 
diversion  to  give  the  runners  a  better  chance  to  slip  in  or  out. 

Once  only  do  I  recall  of  its  driving  a  vessel  from  her  station, 
in  March,  1863,  and  then  the  blockader,  one  of  the  light  wooden 
craft,  steamed  off  only  a  short  distance,  and  then  turning 
opened  fire  upon  it  and  drove  the  Ram  back  inside. 

The  last  I  saw  of  that  Ram  was  in  June,  1864;  she  was  hard 
and  fast  on  the  inside  Rips,  disabled. 

From  the  date  of  his  arrival  Col.  Lamb  bent  his  energies 
towards  increasing  the  strength  and  numbers  of  the  fortifica- 
tions on  Federal  Point. 

The  unusual  activity  of  the  Confederates,  who,  in  increased 
numbers,  were  observed  to  be  hard  at  work  constructing  the 
extensive  works  which  soon  spread  from  the  face  of  Fort  Fisher 
back  to  the  river  bank,  called  for  special  reports  to  the  Ad- 
miral, S.  P.  Lee,  commanding  the  North  Atlantic  Blockading 
Squadron. 

In  December,  1862,  began  the  discussion  of  plans  for  the 
capture  of  Wilmington.  At  first  Lee  thought  of  New  Inlet, 
but  later,  in  January  and  February,  1863,  the  Fort  "Caswell" 
entrance  was  thought  of,  and  to  Commander  D.  L.  Braine 


were  given  instructions  to  survey  at  night  in  boats  to  ascertain 
the  depths  of  the  channels  and  on  the  bar,  with  special  view 
to  entrance  by  monitors  like  the  Weehawkcn  and  Montauk. 
Conferences  were  had  with  General  John  G.  Foster,  in  com- 
mand of  the  United  States  forces  in  the  grounds,  looking  to 
co-operation  with  him  in  a  movement  towards  Wilmington  from 
Newberne. 

About  this  time  I  was  ordered  to  duty,  as  aid  to  the  Admiral, 
on  the  flag-ship  Minnesota,  and  was  able  to  keep  informed 
as  to  his  efforts  to  secure  army  co-operation  in  an  attack  upon 
the  fortifications  at  the  entrances  to  Cape  Fear  river. 

In  March,  1863,  the  Confederates  had  evidently  learned  of  a 
contemplated  attack  by  the  monitors,  and,  to  enable  them  to 
secure  a  point  for  a  plunging  fire  upon  the  vulnerable  decks 
of  those  vessels,  the  construction  of  the  great  "Mound"  bat- 
tery of  sand  was  begun  about  three-fourths  of  a  mile  from  the 
main  fort.  The  work  on  this  was  continued  until  in  June,  1864, 
it  was  completed  to  a  height  of  about  sixty  feet,  and  two  heavy 
rifled  guns  were  mounted  thereon  to  sweep  the  channels ;  and 
at  the  same  time  they  provided  a  greater  altitude  for  their 
signal  lights,  thus  communicating  with  the  incoming  blockade- 
runners  to  a  greater  distance  at  sea  as  well  as  further  up  the 
coast. 

The  Flagship  Minnesota  being  then  off  New  Inlet  I  made  a 
sketch  of  the  entire  works,  from  Zeek's  Island  up  beyond  Fort 
Fisher,  which  the  Admiral  forwarded  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy  with  his  official  report  as  to  the  existing  fortifications 
at  that  time,  and  this  sketch  appears  on  page  125  of  Volume 
IX  of  the  Naval  War  Records. 

The  sketch  shows  the  five  heavy  gun  batteries  between  the 
"Mound"  and  the  main  fort,  then  fully  completed,  and  the 
line  of  protecting  earthworks  about  five  feet  high  connecting 


them;  and  also  shows  how  the  main  fort  and  these  batteries 
were  built  upon  the  highest  ridge  of  sand  upon  the  neck  of 
Federal  Point. 

These  works  were  perfected  during  the  year  1864,  and  were 
armed  with  75  guns,  most  of  them  of  the  heaviest  caliber  and 
rifled,  including  the  Armstrong,  the  Blakely  and  Brooks  guns. 

In  October  the  formidable  fortifications  were  further  pro- 
tected by  the  construction  of  the  stockade  or  palisades,  as  they 
were  called  by  some,  made  of  heavy  cottonwood  logs,  along 
the  foot  of  the  outer  slope  of  the  northern  face  of  the  fort, 
from  its  western  end  to  and  around  the  angle  of  the  northeast 
bastion,  and  thence  with  several  breaks  in  its  line  en  echelon 
down  to  the  line  of  high-water  mark  about  two  hundred  yards 
from  the  face  of  the  fort,  the  stockade  being  about  eight  or  ten 
feet  in  height. 

Pages  might  be  written  in  description  of  the  hardships 
and  experiences  of  those  years  of  continuous  service  on  block- 
ade duty  on  our  coasts  during  that  war;  of  the  nights  spent  in 
open  boats  watching  close  into  the  channels  of  the  river  en- 
trances; of  the  excitements  attending  chases  of  blockade- 
runners  by  night  and  day;  of  the  boat  expeditions  and  the 
engagements  along  the  coast,  in  the  James  river  and  in  the 
Sounds  of  North  Carolina,  such  as  Fyffe's  attack  on  the  rebel 
ironclads  at  the  obstructions  in  the  James  river  near  Fort 
Darling;  Cushing's  several  r.econnoisances  up  the  Cape  Fear 
river;  his  engagements  within  the  inlets  when  commanding 
the  Ellis;  his  sinking  of  the  Albemarle ;  Lamson's  gallant  work 
and  victory  on  the  Nansemond,  and  many  other  incidents 
of  most  creditable  service,  to  give  details  of  which  as  told  me 
at  the  time  by  those  brave  officers  would  be  interesting,  as 
their  recitals  were  made  in  familiar  conversations  and  not  in 
the  dry,  formal  style  of  official  reports,  but  these  would  make 
this  narrative  almost  interminable. 


On  one  of  the  trips  of  Admiral  Lee  to  the  blockading  fleet 
off  New  Inlet  in  his  flagship,  the  Minnesota,  to  inspect  in 
person  the  methods  in  force  to  secure  a  close  blockade,  I  had  a 
most  delightful  and  thrilling  experience. 

I  was  a  witness,  then,  to  one  of  the  most  admirable  exhibi- 
tions of  seamanship  ever  seen  by  anyone.  I  wish  I  had  the 
pen  of  a  Clark  Russell  to  give  it  the  graphic  description  it 
deserves. 

In  these  days,  when  steam  has  superseded  the  use  of  sails  in 
the  Navy,  and  armor  plates  and  steel  frames  have  taken  the 
place  of  wooden  hulls,  we  no  longer  witness  the  pictures  of  the 
sailing  vessels  of  the  days  of  romance  sung  by  Dibden  and 
described  by  Marryat. 

Whilst  the  flagship  was  on  the  station  a  terrific  northeast 
gale  one  night  struck  the  coast  scattering  the  smaller  craft, 
and  the  flagship,  dragging  her  anchor,  was  forced  to  get  under- 
way and  make  for  an  offing. 

The  current  along  shore,  running  to  the  southward,  was 
sweeping  the  old  frigate  down  towards  Frying  Pan  Shoals, 
and  her  engines  could  not  give  her  headway  enough  against 
the  wind  and  sea  to  assure  her  safety. 

This  made  it  necessary  to  keep  some  sail  upon  the  vessel. 

The  gale  was  so  violent  that  she  could  carry  nothing  but 
topsails,  and  those  double-reefed. 

The  gundeck  ports  were  closed  and  almost  buried  under 
water  as  the  old  frigate  heeled  over  under  the  blast.  The 
rain  in  torrents  cut  us  like  whip-lashes,  and  all  hands  were  at 
their  stations.      It  was  an  anxious  moment. 

Every  moment  set  us  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  shoals,  and 
I  was  kept  running  by  the  Admiral  to  his  cabin  chart  to  note   . 
the  depths  of  the  soundings  thereon. 

With  a  report  like  a  gunshot  the  foretopsail  was  suddenly 


blown  out  of  the  bolt  ropes  into  ribbons,  and  overboard;  and 
it  became  necessary  at  once  to  replace  it. 

Lieutenant' Joseph  P.  Fyffe,  our  executive  officer,  had  been 
on  deck  since  the  beginning  of  the  gale,  and  was  almost  fagged 
out  when  this  contingency  arose. 

The  captain,  Napoleon  B.  Harrison,  tried  to  relieve  him,  as 
did  the  fleet  captain,  Pierce  Crosby,  and  even  the  Admiral 
tried  to  give  him  aid;  but  in  the  shrieking  of  the  wind  their 
voices  could  not  be  heard  as  far  as  the  mainmast. 

Fyffe,  fortified  by  a  stiff  glass  of  brandy,  ordered  for  him  by 
the  Admiral,  resumed  his  post;  and  gifted  not  only  with  a 
voice  like  a  trumpet  but  with  the  professional  skill  of  the  best 
of  the  old  time  seamen,  he  soon  had  a  new  foretopsail  bent 
and  carefully  and  safely  sheeted  home.  The  men  seemed  to 
know  that  a  master  seaman  was  on  deck,  and  there  was  never 
a  hitch  or  moment's  delay  in  fulfilling  his  orders. 

Fyffe  was  a  man  whose  vocabulary  was  rich  in  choice,  ex- 
pressive, and  sometimes  unique,  expletives;  oaths  of  various 
degrees  of  intensity  and  expression  took  with  him  the  places 
of  commas,  semi-colons  and  periods,  a  peculiarity  which  was 
fully  accounted  for  by  him  on  one  occasion  when  old  Chaplain 
Salter,  in  the  presence  of  our  mess,  ventured  to  rebuke  him 
for  his  apparent  profanity;  and  Fyffe  instantly  retorted  with 
"Stop  that,  Chaplain.  You  know  that  you  pray  a  great  deal 
and  that  I  swear  a  great  deal,  but  neither  of  us  means  any- 
thing by  it." 

Once  during  that  day  as  I  came  above  hatches  from 
below  to  report  to  the  Admiral  from  the  chart  the  depths 
approaching  the  line  of  the  shoal,  as  I  leaned  up  against 
the  gale  I  heard  one  old  salt  remark  to  another,  as  they  were 
hauling  on  the  braces,  "Bill,  I'd  a  damned  sight  rather  work 
to  the  Lieutenant's  swearing  than  I  would  dance  to  the  singing 
of  those  others." 


IO 


Fyffe  held  the  deck,  without  relief  or  food,  until  long  in  the 
afternoon,  when  we  had  fully  weathered  the  tail  of  that  shoal, 
and  he  had  the  old  frigate  laying  to  in  safety. 

That  piece  of  admirable  seamanship,  under  the  eye  of  the 
Admiral,  together  with  many  acts  of  gallantry  in  the  face  of 
the  enemy  in  James  river,  won  Fyffe  his  restoration  to  the 
active  list ;  and  he  gained  the  rank  of  Rear  Admiral  before 
he  died.  The  memories  of  my  association  with  him  in 
service  are  amongst  the  most  enjoyable  of  all  those  cruising 
days. 

During  the  last  three  months  of  1864  the  efforts  to  run  the 
blockade  became  more  frequent,  and  the  needs  of  the  Confed- 
eracy for  supplies  of  arms,  ammunition  and  other  stores  in- 
creased very  greatly,  and  caused  an  apparent  concentration 
of  the  swiftest  blockade-runners  from  Nassau  and  Bermuda 
upon  that  point.  The  labors  and  trials  of  the  blockading 
vessels  were  vastly  increased  by  the  demand  for  greater  vigil- 
ance to  head  off  those  "runners,"  and,  through  storm  and  fine 
weather,  along  the  whole  coast,  from  Little  River  north  to  Cape 
Lookout,  the  watchful  patrol  was  kept  up  night  and  day 
with  zeal  and  devotion  by  one  and  all. 

I  cannot  forbear,  in  tracing  these  lines,  to  express  my  great 
admiration  for  my  old  commander-in-chief,  Rear  Admiral 
S.  P.  Lee.  This  is  fitting,  since  a  study  of  him  and  his  work 
is  but  a  part  of  my  memories  of  service  in  his  squadron — on 
his  flagship  and  as  his  aide. 

From  the  beginning  of  his  service  as  Commander  of  the 
North  Atlantic  Blockading  Squadron  the  records  show,  as  to 
his  conduct,  unceasing,  untiring  devotion  to  duty. 

Through  his  able  subordinates  the  commanding  officers  of  his 
greet  fleet  on  the  blockade,  in  the  Sounds  of  North  Carolina 
and  in  the  waters  of  Virginia,  the  plans  and  instructions  care- 
fully studied  out  by  him  were  most   efficiently   carried   out. 


II 


No  detail  of  the  management  of  the  vast  work  of  that  ser- 
vice failed  of  observation  at  his  hands. 

The  multiplicity  of  the  matters  affecting  the  blockade,  the 
providing  of  vessels  for  every  service,  of  the  assignment  of  the 
proper  officers  for  every  emergency  of  service  in  the  Sounds 
and  on  the  coast,  the  fitting  out  of  expeditions  against  the  bat- 
teries, forts  and  ironclads  of  the  enemy,  whether  in  the  Sounds, 
in  the  James  river  or  off  Cape  Fear  river,  all  required  and 
received  careful  consideration  and  action  by  him. 

As  his  aide  I  saw  his  surpassing  zeal  and  energy  in  trans- 
acting the  squadron's  business.  In  his  personal  inspections 
of  the  vessels  in  the  Sounds  and  on  the  blockade  nothing 
escaped  his  earnest  attention.  His  every  thought  was  for 
the  success  of  the  cause  of  the  Union;  and  sincerely  and  often 
did  he  plan  for  the  closing  of  Cape  Fear  river  through  the  co- 
operation of  his  fleet  and  the  army.  That  this  was  not  realized 
by  him  was  through  no  fault  attributable  to  him. 

I  could  but  notice  that  (although  no  word  of  complaint 
was  uttered  by  him)  his  every  act  seemed  to  be  made  with 
the  extra  caution  and  scrupulous  care  of  one  who  felt  that 
there  was  some  adverse  influence  seeking  to  undermine  him 
with  the  Department,  and  so  his  discharge  of  his  duty  was  ever 
beyond  criticism. 

Through  his  repeated  orders  were  secured  all  the  exact  in- 
formation needed  to  post  the  Department  as  to  the  true  con- 
ditions existing  on  the  approaches  to  Wilmington,  including 
the  number  and  distribution  of  the  enemy's  forces  there,  the 
points  most  accessible  and  suitable  for  landing  troops,  and 
the  depth  of  the  water  on  the  bars  to  guide  an  attacking  fleet. 

His  good  work  merited  the  credit  of  command  on  the  day  of 
final  success,  but  it  was  not  willed  that  the  honor  of  reducing 
Fort  Fisher  should  be  his.     Secretary  Welles,  having  deter- 


12 


mined  at  last  to  close  Cape  Fear  river,  first  offered  the  command 
of  that  Squadron  to  Admiral  Farragut,  who  was  then  at 
Mobile,  but  his  ill  health  compelled  him  to  decline  it ;  and  then 
Admiral  David  D.  Porter  was  selected;  and  in  October,  1864, 
he  was  assigned  to  duty  as  the  successor  of  Admiral  Lee. 

The  end  of  the  vicissitudes  of  blockade  life  was  now  fast 
approaching.  The  capture  of  Mobile  Bay  had  closed  all  the 
inlets  to  the  Confederacy  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  excepting 
Galveston  Bay.  The  capture  of  Savannah  by  General  Sher- 
man, and  his  march  northward  toward  Columbia,  South 
Carolina,  had  effectually  sealed  up  Charleston,  as  a  useful  port 
of  entry  for  blockade  runners,  thus  leaving  Cape  Fear  river 
as  the  only  remaining  entrance  for  supplies  for  the  Confederate 
armies.'' 

The  months  of  October  and  November  saw  assembling  in 
the  waters  of  Hampton  Roads  a  large  fleet  of  war  vessels, 
drawn  from  all  of  the  other  squadrons;  and  the  vessels  were 
busy  laying  in  stores  of  ordnance  supplies  for  an  attack  upon 
Fort  Fisher  in  which  the  army  was  to  co-operate. 

An  immense  flotilla  of  transports  -had  been  gathered  there 
to  carry  the  troops  detailed  by  General  Grant  for  that  purpose. 

The  great  ironclad  New  Ironsides,  the  monitors,  the  frigates 
and  sloops-of-war,  and  many  gunboats,  strangers  hitherto 
to  those  waters,  were  in  the  roadstead. 

The  vessels  of  the  blockading  squadron  off  Cape  Fear  river, 
then  numbering  twenty-one  in  all,  had  been  by  the  Admiral's 
order  assigned  on  paper  to  the  several  divisions  of  the  new 
fighting  fleet,  according  to  size,  armament  and  efficiency;  but 
they  remained  actually  under  the  command  of  Captains 
Glisson  and  Sands,  as  divisional  commanders,  still  engaged 
in  closely  blockading  the  New  Inlet  and  Western  Bar  en- 
trances to  the  river. 


13 

From  the  Minnesota,  I  was,  in  1864,  transferred  for  a  short 
time  to  the  Fort  Jackson;  and  when  my  old  friend  Lamson, 
formerly  Flag  Lieutenant  to  Admiral  Lee,  was  ordered  to 
command  the  U.  S.  S.  Gettysburg,  I  was  ordered  to  duty  under 
him,  and  saw  much  active  work  in  chasing  and  capturing  block- 
ade runners. 

I  was  in  Beaufort  Harbor  on  the  Gettysburg  when  the  old 
Louisiana,  which  had  been  altered  to  the  appearance  of  a 
blockade-runner,  came  in  and  took  an  out-of-the-way  place 
for  anchorage.  She  had  been  loaded  with  bags  and  barrels 
of  powder  aggregating  over  200  tons,  and  fuses  and  slow 
matches  were  placed  and  wound  through  these  opened  barrels 
and  bags  in  the  expectation  that  the  burning  fuses  would  at  the 
proper  moment  cause  an  explosion  so  violent  as  to  disable 
the  fort. 

The  intrepid  Rhind,  who  with  a  small  but  gallant  crew  had 
volunteered  for  the  dangerous  task  of  running  the  Louisiana 
into  position  on  the  bar  near  the  fort,  was  in  charge. 

The  great  fleet  sailed  from  Hampton  Roads  on  the  18th 
of  December,  and  soon  reached  the  offing  near  Beaufort 
Harbor. 

The  understanding  between  Admiral  Porter  and  General 
Butler  was  that  the  transports  should  follow  the  fleet  and 
await  off  shore  notice  that  everything  was  ready  for  the  attack. 

Instead  of  doing  that  General  Butler  and  some  of  his  trans- 
ports proceeded  direct  to  the  neighborhood  of  Fort  Fisher 
with  flags  all  flying,  thus  notifying  the  enemy  that  the  move- 
ment was  against  that  point. 

A  gale  set  in  on  the  20th,  which  drove  the  transports  off 
shore  and  even  disorganized  the  fleet  formation,  and  delayed 
the  starting  of  the  fleet  for  the  place  of  rendezvous  about  25 
miles  east  of  Fort  Fisher. 


14 

On  the  2 2d,  the  lines  of  the  fleet  were  formed  at  the  appointed 
place,  but  the  sea  was  still  rough;  so  the  division  anchored  in 
line,  in  about  seventeen  fathoms  of  water,  to  hold  their  posi- 
tions ;  the  smaller  craft  being  detailed  to  keep  near  the  monitors 
during  the  night  in  case  of  assistance  being  needed. 

The  rising  seas  kept  the  decks  of  the  monitors  awash,  and 
trying,  indeed,  must  have  been  the  experiences  of  their  crews 
below  decks.  During  the  night  several  dragged  anchors  and 
signalled  for  aid,  and  they  had  to  be  held  in  position  by  hawsers 
run  from  the  smaller  steamers. 

Our  anxiety  was  relieved  when,  at  dawn  on  the  23d,  one 
after  another  of  the  vessels  of  the  fleet  was  accounted  for  and 
reported  safe. 

My  captain,  Roswell  H.  Lamson,  was  selected  by  the  Ad- 
miral to  take  charge  of  the  little  Wilderness,  the  swiftest  of  the 
steamers  present,  to  accompany  the  Louisiana  on  her  mission 
of  destruction,  and  was  soon  off  on  that  duty. 

When  darkness  came  on  the  Louisiana  and  her  little  escort 
were  seen  slowly  moving  in  towards  the  fort,  and  hour  by 
hour  the  fleet  awaited  the  result  anxiously. 

How  Rhind  carried  out  his  dangerous  mission  has  been  often 
told.  He  and  his  crew  at  midnight,  having  anchored  within 
300  yards  of  the  shore,  near  the  fort,  after  lighting  the  slow 
matches  and  fuses,  escaped  in  safety  to  the  Wilderness  and 
were  brought  out  to  the  fleet.  At  1.45  A.  M.  on  the  24th  the 
explosion  occurred,  but  was  simply  a  fine  piece  of  pyrotechnics 
with  no  good  results  following.  At  daylight  the  fleet  of  fifty- 
six  vessels  in  all  steamed  into  the  bombardment,  and  the 
garrison  on  the  parapets  gave  us  to  know  that  they  were  ready 
for  action.  Butler's  transports  had  not  yet  reappeared,  buf 
signal  was  made  by  the  Admiral  for  the  divisions,  in  order,  to 
move  into  their  assigned  positions. 


15 

In  the  first  division,  at  the  head,  steamed  the  Santiago  de 
Cuba,  under  Glisson,  followed  by  the  Fort  Jackson,  under 
Sands.  Each  vessel  moved  on  in  silence  until  its  position 
was  reached,  when  it  anchored  and  opened  fire  upon  the  fort. 

The  monitors  and  the  New  Ironsides  anchored  together  close 
in  shore,  to  the  northeast  of  the  angle  of  the  fort,  and  the 
frigates  and  sloops-of-war,  forming  the  second  division;  and 
the  Brooklyn  with  the  gunboats  were  in  line  outside  of  them  to 
the  southward. 

So  prompt  and  skilful  were  the  commanding  officers  of  the 
vessels  in  handling  them  that  with  the  first  gun  from  the  lead- 
ing ship  it  seemed  as  if  a  line  of  fire  ran  down  the  whole  face  of 
the  fleet.  The  roar  of  the  guns  then  became  incessant,  and  the 
flying  sand  on  the  fortifications  from  the  "Mound"  on  the 
south,  to  the  traverses  on  the  northern  face  of  Fort  Fisher, 
told  of  the  general  accuracy  and  destructiveness  of  our  fire. 

The  guns  of  the  enemy  were  not  silent.  From  the  two  heavy 
rifled  guns  on  the  "Mound,"  from  the  great  Armstrong  gun, 
and  all  the  heavy  guns  along  the  traverses  of  the  fort,  came 
the  shot  and  shell  over  and  into  the  line  of  vessels. 

Now  and  then  a  bursting  Parrott  gun  caused  dismay  in  the 
fleet  here  and  there,  but  no  vessel  left  the  line,  and  all  day 
the  fury  of  the  bombardment  was  on,  and  as  a  spectacle  it  was 
simply  grand. 

At  sunset  the  transports  of  General  Butler  began  to  appear, 
but  too  late  for  any  action  then. 

During  the  night  of  the  24th  December,  designated  vessels 
kept  up  the  fire  to  prevent  the  enemy  from  repairing  damage 
done  to  the  batteries,  and  on  Christmas  day  the  bombard- 
ment was  continued. 

Although  the  little  Gettysburg  had  only  one  30-pounder 
Parrott  gun  that  was  efficient  at  the  range,  Lamson  was  per- 


]6 


mitted  during  that  day's  bombardment  to  steal  into  the  open- 
ing between  the  vessels  of  the  first  line  and  take  an  occa- 
sional shot,  and  so  we  had  the  opportunity  (similar  to  that 
afforded  to  certain  commanders  whose  vessels  were  present 
at  the  battle  off  Santiago  de  Cuba)  of  claiming  that  it  was 
our  shot  and  shell  which  did  all  the  damage  that  was  noted 
when  guns  toppled  over  or  flagstaffs  were  carried  away  on  the 
fort. 

On  the  25th  day  of  December  General  Butler's  transports 
had  all  come  to  anchor,  and,  aided  by  the  boats  from  the 
small  steamers,  with  Commander  J.  H.  Upshur  in  the  A.  D. 
Vance  in  charge  of  that  task,  the  landing  of  the  troops  began. 

We  could  see  the  regiments  crossing  the  neck  of  land  and 
slowly  advancing  towards  the  fort.  At  nightfall  General 
Butler  notified  the  Admiral  that  his  force  could  not  successfully 
attack  the  fort,  and  that  he  was  going  to  withdraw. 

Quite  a  fog  set  in  during  the  night,  and  I  remember  the  dis- 
gust that  was  expressed  throughout  the  fleet  when  we 
saw  the  next  morning  as  the  mist  cleared  off  that  the  troop- 
ships were  sailing  away.  We  could  see  no  reason  for  this,  as 
nothing  had  been  seriously  done  in  the  way  of  attack  on  shore 
and  we  were  looking  to  participate  in  the  fight  ourselves. 

But  General  Butler  evidently  had  made  up  his  mind  that 
it  was  no  place  for  him,  as  the  transports  were  filled  they 
steamed  away  north. 

It  was  not  until  the  27th,  however,  that  the  boats  brought 
off  the  last  of  the  troops  who  had  remained  on  shore  undis- 
turbed by  the  enemy. 

The  last  of  the  transports  then  sailed  away  for  Hampton 
Roads,  leaving  the  Admiral  filled  with  indignation  at  the 
''fiasco"  which  had  rendered  useless  all  the  extensive  and  ex- 
pensive preparations  that  had  been  made  after  so  much  labor 
and  study  by  General  Grant  and  himself. 


i7 

All  the  vessels  not  needed  for  the  immediate  purposes  of 
blockading  were  withdrawn  to  Beaufort  and  Hampton  Roads, 
where  their  magazines  were  refilled  at  once  for  service. 

The  Admiral  and  General  Grant  were  soon  again  in  confer- 
ence, with  the  result  that  on  the  8th  day  of  January,  1865, 
Major  General  A.  H.  Terry  appeared  off  Beaufort  with  a  fleet 
of  transports;  and  when  the  weather  permitted  they  sailed 
with  our  reorganized  fleet  on  the  12th  of  January,  reaching 
the  New  Inlet  entrance  on  the  13th. 

Again  the  several  divisions  took  up  their  positions  as  on 
the  occasion  of  the  first  bombardment,  and  opened  fire  on  the 
fortifications.  The  fourth  division  of  light  vessels,  again 
under  Upshur,  superintended  and  aided  in  landing  the  troops, 
and  by  3  o'clock  P.  M.  8,000  men,  under  General  Terry,  were 
landed,  and  a  large  quantity  of  stores  of  all  kinds  were  put  on 
shore  by  the  boats  of  the  "  cracker  flotilla,  "  as  we  called  it. 

Whilst  the  bombardment  proceeded,  the  troops  had  en- 
trenched themselves,  throwing  up  a  line  of  earthworks  across 
the  neck  of  land;  and  had  taken  possession  of  the  river  bank 
and  were  advancing  south  towards  the  fort. 

Generals  Curtis  and  Ames  have  given  their  several  de- 
scriptions of  the  movements  and  brilliant  work  of  the  troops 
under  their  command  in  the  attack  upon  the  fort,  and  I  will 
confine  my  narrative  to  the  part  taken  by  the   Navy  therein. 

Admiral  Porter  had  long  matured  his  plans  for  co-opera- 
tion by  the  Navy  in  the  land  assault  upon  the  fort,  and  from 
every  vessel  in  the  fleet  detachments  had  been  made  up,  and 
were  armed  with  cutlasses  and  revolvers  in  readiness  to  land 
and  assist  the  army;  the  marines  and  some  few  sailors  only 
having  rifles  and  carbines. 

The  contingent  from  the  Gettysburg  was  composed  of  seventy 
officers  and  men  under  her  commander,  Lieutenant  Roswell 


i8 

H.  Lamson,  and  I,  an  Acting  Ensign,  was  next  in  command. 
It  was  close  packing  in  the  boats  to  get  us  all  ashore. 

Early  in  the  forenqon  the  whole  force  of  sailors,  some  1,600 
in  all,  and  400  marines,  were  in  their  boats  and  soon  made  for 
the  shore.  The  sea  was  calm  and  no  surf  on  the  beach,  which 
we  speedily  reached,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  above  the  fort. 
The  sailors  were  formed  into  three  divisions.  A  small 
force  of  men  were  detached  from  each  division,  and  supplied 
with  shovels  was  at  once  advanced  towards  the  fort  under 
Flag  Lieutenant  S.  W.  Preston,  and  soon  was  engaged  throw- 
ing up  lines  of  rifle-pits  one  after  another,  from  which,  as 
sharpshooters,  those  armed  with  carbines,  and  some  of  the 
marines,  were  expected  to  clear  the  enemy  from  the  parapets 
when  the  movement  forward  of  the  main  assaulting  party 
was  begun. 

The  first  division  was  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant 
Commander  Cushman  of  the  Wabash. 

The  second  division  was  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant 
Commander  James  Parker  of  the  Minnesota.  To  this  division 
the  men  from  the  Gettysburg  were  attached. 

The  third  division  was  commanded  by  Lieutenant  Com- 
mander T.  O.  Selfridge,  commanding  the  Huron.  The 
marines,  about  400  in  number,  under  Captain  Dawson,  formed 
a  separate  division,  and  were  advanced  on  the  right  of  the 
brigade  of  sailors,  and  occupied  the  rifle-pits  facing  the  north 
front  of  the  fort  and  nearest  to  the  Army. 

The  formation  of  the  divisions  for  the  assault  was  soon  com- 
pleted, and  we  were  awaiting  for  orders  to  move. 

After  some  time  Fleet  Captain  K.  R.  Breeze  appeared,  com- 
ing from  a  consultation  with  General  Terry,  and  read  to  the 
assembled  officers  the  Admiral's  orders  under  which  he  as- 
sumed command.  Lieutenant  Commander  Parker  waived 
his  seniority  in  rank  and  resumed  command  of  his  division. 


19 

Detailed  instructions  from  the  Admiral,  set  out  in  his 
famous  general  order,  were  read  to  us,  directing  us  to  "board 
the  fort  with  a  rush,"  and  enjoining  upon  us  that,  if  after  we 
had  captured  the  fort  we  "were  fired  upon  from  the  '  Mound ' 
every  three  men  were  to  take  a  prisoner  and  throw  him  over  to 
the  other  side  of  the  walls"  towards  his  friends  to  receive 
their  fire. 

The  cool  assumptions  as  to  the  certainty  of  our  success  with 
cutlasses  and  revolvers  against  the  Enfield  rifles  of  an  enemy 
about  equalling  our  own  force  in  numbers  and  protected  by 
such  heavy  earthworks,  and  its  delightful  (if  absurd)  con- 
fidence in  our  physical  powers  as  animated  "catapults," 
caused  a  ripple  of  audible  smiles  to  run  down  our  ranks,  and 
cheered  us  up  considerably  for  the  coming  task  of  the  "forlorn 
hope"  upon  which  we  were  about  to  enter. 

Shortly  after  3  o'clock  P.M.  the  divisions  were  ordered  to 
move  upon  the  fort,  and,  as  quickly  as  we  could  march  over 
the  fine  dry  sand,  we  passed  the  line  of  rifle-pits  that  had  been 
thrown  up  and  from  which  the  marines  had  moved  on. 

Captain  Breeze  having  determined  to  make  the  assault  upon 
the  northeast  bastion  ordered  the  division,  as  they  passed  the 
rifle-pits,  to  move  by  the  left  flank  down  to  the  beach,  on  the 
damp,  compact  surface  of  which,  the  tide  having  fallen,  it 
was  comparatively  easy  to  march. 

As  we  moved  down  parallel  to  the  north  face  of  the  fort, 
the  enemy,  from  a  light  Whitworth  gun  emplaced  in  an  earth- 
work, covering  a  sally-port  running  through  the  -works  on  the 
level  of  the  palisades  about  the  middle  of  that  face,  opened 
fire  upon  us,  but  overshot  every  time,  merely  causing  us  to 
quicken  our  movement  towards  the  beach. 

Turning  south  the  assaulting  column  at  quickstep  went  on 
until  within  about  five  hundred  yards  of  the  fort,  when  we  were 


20 


ordered  to  lie  down  on  the  slope  of  the  beach  below  the  line  of 
rifle  fire  being  poured  into  us  from  the  fort,  to  rest  preparatory 
to  the  final  charge. 

Overhead  went  the  shot  and  shell  etween  the  fort  and  fleet, 
occasional  short  fuses  causing  premature  explosions  of  shells, 
whose  fragments  wounded  numbers  of  our  men. 

The  roar  of  the  bombardment  was  continuous  and  terrific, 
and  we  could  see  that  the  heavy  rain  of  shells  from  the  vessels 
had  cleared  the  parapet  of  its  defenders. 

Finally  about  3.30  P.M.  a  shrill  whistle  from  the  flagship 
gave  the  signal  responded  to  by  similar  whistles  throughout 
the  fleet,  and  stopped  the  fire  of  every  vessel  except  such  as 
could  direct  their  guns  upon  the  southern  line  of  batteries  be- 
yond the  main  fort. 

In  an  instant  the  order  to  advance  was  given  by  Captain 
Breeze,  and  the  divisions,  in  their  order,  arose  with  cheers, 
each  boat's  crew  unfurling  its  flag,  and  moved  on  the  run 
down  the  beach. 

I  recall,  as  though  it  were  yesterday,  the  gallant  Parker's 
appearance,  wearing  a  long  loose  talma  overcoat,  as  on  the 
right  flank  of  our  division  nearest  the  enemy  he  ran  forward 
ever  in  the  front,  the  cape  of  his  coat  flapping  out  like  the 
wings  of  a  bat,  presenting  an  appearance  that  amused  us 
even  at  a  time  like  that. 

As  we  passed  the  line  of  marines  in  the  rifle-pits  and  behind 
the  sand  hills  Parker  ordered  them  to  fall  in  with  the  assault- 
ing party,  which  they  did. 

The  enemy,  warned  by  the  whistles  of  the  fleet,  realized  that 
the  crucial  moment  was  at  hand,  and  soon  the  whole  sea  front 
of  the  main  fort  was  swarming  with  men,  who  poured  a  terrific 
and  continuous  hail  of  bullets  into  our  ranks  as  we  drew 
nearer  every  moment.   The  men  fell  like  ten-pins  along  our  line 


21 


A  seaman  running  just  at  my  side  dropped  with  a  bullet 
just  back  of  his  ear,  and  so  saved  me;  another  to  my  left  fell 
with  a  shriek  that  he  was  killed.  I  tore  open  his  shirt  and 
found  but  a  skin  scratch  making  a  line  across  his  chest,  the 
sting  of  which  had  frightened  him,  but  on  my  assurance  that 
he  was  all  right  he  soon  was  on  the  run  forward  with  us. 

The  two  days'  firing  from  the  fleet  had  here  and  there  torn 
gaps  in  the  palisades  which  led  to  the  beach,  and  as  the  front 
of  the  first  division  charging  up  the  hard  beach  below  the  high- 
water  mark  reached  the  end  of  the  palisades  they  shrank  back 
from  the  withering  fire  and  turned  up  on  the  north  side  of  the 
palisades  toward  the  fort. 

Through  one  of  these  gaps  in  the  palisades,  about  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  yards  from  the  face  of  the  fort,  young  Acting 
Ensign  Robley  D.  Evans,  of  the  Powhatan,  already  wounded 
in  one  leg,  gallantly  advanced,  but  instantly  fell  under  the 
terrific  hail  of  bullets,  having  his  leg  again  pierced  above  the 
knee  entirely  disabling  him. 

As  the  third  division  charged  up  Evans  saw  his  classmate, 
Ensign  James  H.  Sands,  of  the  Shenandoah ,  coming  up  on  the 
run,  and  called  out  to  him  to  come  to  his  aid.  Sands  instantly 
sprang  through  the  palisades  to  his  side,  and,  aided  by  a  sailor 
who  had  joined  him,  in  the  face  of  that  hail  of  bullets  poured 
on  them  by  the  enemy,  dropped  down,  and,  using  silk  hand- 
kerchiefs as  tourniquets,  soon  stopped  the  loss  of  blood  and 
saved  his  life. 

Sands  ordered  the  sailor  not  to  leave  the  side  of  Evans  until 
he  could  see  him  in  a  safe  place,  and  then  going  back  through 
the  palisades  struggled  through  the  mass  of  seamen  until  he 
rejoined  his  own  men  some  sixty  yards  nearer  to  the  fort. 

That  sailor  evidently  performed  his  duty  nobly  and  faith- 
fully, for  as  he  helped  Evans  to  the  rear  he  was  himself  wounded 


22 


and  fell  by  his  side,  where  they  were  both  found  later  near  the 
beach  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards  from  the  fort  by  Act- 
ing Ensign  Smalley  of  the  Pequot  and  his  men,  who,  aided  by 
Lieutenant  John  R.  Bartlett,  of  the  Susquehanna  (who,  having 
been  at  the  very  front  of  the  assaulting  party,  was  coming  up 
from  the  stockade)  carried  Evans  up  the  beach  to  the  tem- 
porary field  hospital,  where  he  received  the  attention  that 
saved  his  leg,  Bartlett  aiding  the  surgeon  in  cutting  Evans' 
trousers  to  get  at  his  wounds  which  they  dressed. 

With  the  Gettysburg's  men  Lieutenant  Lamson  and  his 
officers  had  reached  a  point  about  seventy  yards  from  the  fort, 
when  their  advance  was  checked  by  the  pack  of  sailors  ahead 
of  them,  and  all  laid  down  flat  upon  the  sand  close  to  the 
palisades. 

Those  gallant  Lieutenants,  B.  H.  Porter,  Flag  Lieutenant, 
and  S.  W.  Preston,  commanding  the  Malvern,  who  as  class- 
mates had  graduated  from  the  Naval  Academy,  who  had  to- 
gether been  captured  by  the  enemy  in  the  Harbor  of  Charles- 
ton, and  who' had  side  by  side  been  in  the  Confederate  prison 
at  Columbia,  S.  C,  from  which  they  had  not  long  before  been 
released,  were  killed  near  each  other  in  the  very1  forefront  of 
the  assaulting  party. 

As  the  officers  and  men  at  the  head  of  the  column  reached 
the  breach  in  the  palisades  close  up  to  the  salient  angle  of  the 
fort,  Ensign  George  T.  Davis,  of  the  Wabash,  Master's  Mates 
A.  H.  Aldrich,  of  the  Ticonderoga,  and  J.  M.  Simms,  of  the 
Minnesota,  and  several  men,  charged  through  and  attempted 
to  mount  the  slope  of  the  bastion.  All  were  instantly  shot 
down,  except  Davis,  when  Parker  calling  to  them  to  get  back 
of  the  palisades  they  did  so  as  quickly  as  they  could,  but  left 
one  seamen  dead  just  beyond  the  opening. 

The  dry  sand  of  the  beach  at  that  point  had  been  by  wind 


23 

and  storm  drifted  and  driven  in  hillocks  more  or  less  shallow 
like  waves,  and  was  heaped  up  compactly  against  this  angle 
of  the  palisades. 

These  hillocks  or  dunes  had  been  torn  and  holes  here  and 
there  cut  into  them  by  the  bursting  shells  from  the  fleet, 
and  into  them,  additionally  protected  by  the  high  palisades, 
crept  the  officers  and  men  as  fast  as  they  could. 

The  great  mass  of  the  sailors,  back  of  them,  and  out  of  wind, 
lay  flat  on  the  sand,  in  the  open,  receiving  the  uninterrupted 
fire  Of  the  enemy  from  the  parapet,  the  bullets  every  moment 
adding  to  the  dead  and  wounded. 

Captain  Breeze,  tiring  of  this  slaughter,  jumped  to  his  feet      /• 
exclaiming  "Rise  men  and  charge!"  and  I  well  remember  his 
erect  form  and  heroic  bearing  as  he  stood  facing  the  enemy, 
regardless  of  the  hail  of  bullets  around  him. 

Some  of  the  men  near  the  beach  in  the  more  exposed  posi- 
tions started  to  the  rear.  Again  Breeze  sang  out,  "Charge! 
Don't  retreat!" 

I  was  close  to  the  palisades,  and  was  rising  up  to  obey  him 
when  I  heard  some  one  off  to  my  right  sing  out  "  What  does  he 
say?  Is  it  to  retreat?"  The  last  word  "retreat"  was  re- 
peated from  different  points  at  once,  when,  misled  thereby, 
the  mass  of  men  rose  like  a  covey  of  partridges,  and  as  fast  as 
their  legs  could  take  them  fled  down  the  beach,  followed  by 
the  grape  and  canister  from  the  heavy  guns  on  the  "  Mound  " 
which  had  reopened  upon  our  retreating  column. 

Lamson  had  gone  on  a  dozen  yards  ahead  of  me  in  the  first 
charge  and  had  fallen  wounded  severely.  Left  in  command 
of  the  Gettysburg's  contingent  of  men,  and  seeing  that  further 
advance  was  hopeless,  I  got  my  men  on  their  feet  and  keeping 
them  together  we  followed  the  other  retreating  sailors  and 
marines. 


24 

Every  wounded  man  we  reached  was  picked  up  by  my  men, 
and  we  carried  off  many  of  them  to  the  rear.  One  poor  fellow 
shot  through  the  stomach  three  of  my  men  and  I  put  upon  a 
piece  of  board  we  found  on  the  beach  and  carried  to  the  field 
hospital,  where  I  was  afterwards  informed  he  died. 

At  that  point  I  got  my  men  together  and  halted,  and  soon 
gathered  in  about  fifty  or  sixty  men  and  marched  back  towards 
the  fort  to  the  relief  of  those  who,  keeping  close  to  the  shelter 
of  the  palisades,  could  not  be  reached  by  the  riflemen  on 
the  parapet. 

We  soon  got  under  fire  again,  when,  with  shovels  that  the 
men  had  picked  up,  we  began  throwing  up  sand  along  the 
crest  of  the  high-water  mark,  and  so  working  along  were  ad- 
vancing the  head  of  our  line. 

We  soon  reached  a  point  about  two  hundred  yards  from  the 
fort,  and  found  there  other  men  under  Ensign  J.  H.  Sands  and 
Carlisle  P.  Porter,  the  son  and  secretary  of  the  Admiral,  who 
had  turned  back  before  us  on  the  same  mission,  and  we  joined 
forces.  Lieutenant  Woodward  of  the  Minnesota  also  joined  us 
afterwards.  Darkness  was  fast  coming  on  when  Lieutenant 
W.  B.  Cushing  joined  us,  and  stating  that  he  had  just  come  from 
General  Terry,  whose  men  had  effected  a  lodgment  in  the 
traverses  on  the  western  end  of  the  fortifications,  and  who  had 
requested  him  to  have  the  sailors  relieve  the  Engineer  brigade 
which  held  the  line  of  earthworks  across  the  neck,  that  they 
might  reinforce  the  troops  then  in  sharp  engagement  with  the 
enemy  in  the  fort. 

We  desired  to  go  on  to  the  fort,  but  claiming  his  right  as  our 
senior  officer,  Cushing  directed  us  to  carry  out  the  desires  of 
General  Terry,  saying  that  he  would  report  our  good  work  to 
the  Admiral. 

We  formed  our  men  in  companies,  and  with  our  boat  flags 


/■ 


25 

flying,  marched  slowly  up  the  beach  t6  the  army  entrench- 
ments, where,  relieving  the  Engineer  brigade,  we  were  assigned 
to  duty,  mounting  our  guards  along  the  works  to  warn  us  of 
any  advance  of  the  forces  of  General  Hoke,  which  had  been 
reported  as  moving  down  from  Wilmington. 

The  reaction  from  the  tension  and  exertion  of  our  day's 
fatiguing  and  exciting  engagement  in  the  assault  found  us  as 
hungry  as  starved  bears.  I  shall  never  forget  the  taste  of  a 
piece  of  bacon  I  found  in  the  sand,  thrown  away  by  some 
fastidious  soldier.  I  scraped  the  sand  from  it  and  let  it  sizzle 
awhile  in  the  camp-fire  around  which  we  were  keeping  watch, 
and  on  a  piece  of  hard  tack  it  was  as  palatable  a  morsel  as  an)' 
that  I  have  ever  tasted  since^then. 

At  ten  o'clock  a  rocket  told  us  of  the  final  and  complete 
success  of  the  army  and  that  the  vast  fortifications  were  ours; 
and  our  cheers  at  the  victory  fairly  woke  the  echoes,  whilst 
rockets  from  the  fleet  and  the  noise  of  steam  whistles  kept  up 
the  jubilations  for  hours. 

We  kept  our  vigils  all  night,  however,  to  guard  against  any 
attempt  of  the  rebel  forces  from  Wilmington,  but  no  demon- 
stration was  made. 

At  5  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  January  16,  1865,  I  cele- 
brated my  birthday  by  slipping  off  from  my  men  and  going 
back  over  the  line  of  our  charge  the  day  before  up  to  the 
palisades.  Reaching  the  ground  where  our  last  charge  was 
made,  I  found  it  covered  with  the  bodies  of  the  dead,  the 
wounded  having  been  carried  off  the  night  before.  Passing 
through  the  breach  in  the  palisades  near  the  salient  of  the  fort 
I  found  stretched  out,  with  his  head  towards  the  fort,  the  body 
of  the  brave  sailor  who  died  nearest  the  enemy  on  that  charge. 

Mounting  the  slope,  which  had  been  torn  and  beaten  out  of 
shape  by  the  shells  hurled  upon  it  from  the  fleet,  I  descended 


26 


into  the  fort,  and  went  from  casemate  to  casemate  which  were 
filled  with  dead  and  wounded.  Out  in  the  open,  where  could 
be  seen  the  burned  frames  of  the  barracks  and  quarters  which 
had  been  fired  by  the  shells  from  the  fleet,  I  saw  numbers  of 
dead. 

I  went  the  length  of  the  parapet  from  traverse  to  traverse 
examining  the  disabled  and  dismounted  guns  on  the  north  face 
of  the  fort,  and  over  the  scene  of  the  deadly  hand-to-hand  fight- 
ing of  the  army  inside  the  works,  where  Curtis  and  Penne- 
packer  had  fallen.  On  the  traverses  were  the  bodies  of  the 
fallen,  showing  how  desperately  but  vainly  the  gallant  Con- 
federates under  Lamb  and  Whiting  had  defended  the  works. 

Groups  of  soldiers  were  making  themselves  comfortable 
around  fires  they  had  started  near  the  magazines.  I  went  on 
down  to  near  the  river  front  to  the  sally-port  where  our  gallant 
soldiers  under  Am.es,  Pennepacker  and  Curtis  had  won  their 
entrance  to  the  works. 

Returning,  I  went  south  along  the  batteries  on  the  sea  front 
down  to  the  great  "  Mound  "  examining  the  guns  on  the  line. 

The  great  1 50-pounder  Armstrong  rifled  gun  was  intact,  and 
I  made  a  sketch  of  it,  as  well  as  of  the  "  Mound." 

My  sketch  book  I  found  in  the  Navy  Department  archives 
about  a  year  ago,  it  having  been  turned  over  shortly  after  that 
war  to  some  official  in  the  Department  by  my  father,  Admiral 
Sands. 

My  sketch  of  the  "Mound"  battery  was  made  the  frontis- 
piece to  Volume  XII  of  the  Naval  War  Records. 

Turning  back  I  went  into  the  casement  under  the  north- 
east bastion  of  the  fort  where  I  found  a  magnetic  battery  in 
place,  connected  with  wires  leading  out  through  the  cotton 
sand  bags. 

I  ran  outside  and  down  the  slope,  where  I  soon  found  an  up- 
turned end  of  a  rope  of  wires  wrapped  in  oiled  linen. 


27 

The  ends  of  the  wires  were  welded  together  by  the  cutting 
blow  of  a  shell  which  had  exploded,  and  cut  it  through,  thus 
saving  scores  of  lives,  for  the  wires  ran  to  several  large  tor- 
pedoes which  had  been  buried  in  the  sand  over  which  we  had 
been  massed.  I  cut  off  a  piece  of  this  wire,  and  still  retain  it 
as  a  souvenir,  and  once  showed  it  to  Colonel  Lamb  who  had 
commanded  the  fort  at  the  time.  He  recognized  it,  having 
installed  the  plant,  and  he  said  that  this  explained  why  his 
orders,  given  at  the  proper  moment  to  fire  the  torpedoes,  had 
not  been  obeyed.  He  said  that  thinking  that  the  man  in  charge 
had  disobeyed  his  order  he  had  directed  that  he  should  be 
shot,  but  that  when  the  man  found  that  the  wires  would  not 
work  he  had  run  away. 

I  picked  up  several  other  mementoes,  grape  and  canister,  as 
I  returned  down  the  beach,  and  when  about  a  mile  from  the 
fort  was  met  by  an  officer  just  landed  with  orders  for  me  to 
return  to  the  Gettysburg  to  which  my  Captain,  Lamson,  had 
been  carried  severely  wounded. 

I  went  on  board  and  had  scarcely  gone  below  deck  when  the 
terrific  explosion  of  the  magazine  of  the  fort  occurred,  the 
shock  of  which  could  be  felt  even  on  the  water.  Running  on 
deck  I  saw  the  great  pall  of  smoke  spreading  umbrella-like 
over  the  fort. 

Two  of  the  Gettysburg  s  officers,  Acting  Ensign  Laighton  and 
Assistant  Paymaster  Gillette,  were  killed  by  the  explosion, 
having,  after  leaving  me  at  the  boat  on  landing,  gone  direct  to 
the  parapet  of  the  fort,  reaching  its  face  opposite  the  magazine 
at  the  instant  of  the  explosion. 

Ten  out  of  the  seventy  of  the  Gettysburg's  men  in  the  assault 
were  killed  or  wounded. 

In  the  afternoon  Acting  Master  Charles  Dahlgren,  execu- 
tive officer  of  our  vessel,  went  ashore  and  visited  the  Con- 


28 


federate  wounded.  He  was  complimenting  Colonel  Lamb  on 
his  gallant  defense  of  the  fort  when  an  army  officer  present  said 
"Colonel,  we  gave  you  hell,  did  we  not?'"  To  which  Lamb 
replied,  "  If  we  had  not  been  misled  by  the  sailors  and  marines 
into  believing  that  theirs  was  the  main  attack  of  the  com- 
bined Army  and  Naval  forces,  we  would  have  given  you  Army 
fellows  hell." 

And  so  it  was.  In  that  belief,  on  seeing  our  men  massed  and 
charging,  Colonel  Lamb  had  called  all  his  forces  to  the  par  pet 
of  the  sea  front,  leaving  only  about  148  men  guarding  the 
sally-port  near  the  river,  and  concentrated  his  rifle  fire  upon 
our  defenseless  sailors,  who  were  slaughtered  like  sheep;  and 
when  he  discovered  his  mistake  and  marshalled  his  men 
against  the  Federal  troops,  already  inside  of  the  fort,  he  was 
too  late  for  anything  but  a  stubborn,  desperate  and  useless 
resistance  to  our  victorious  army. 

But  the  sacrifice  of  those  gallant  sailors  from  our  fleet  had 
accomplished  its  good  end,  and,  when  the  troops  had  over- 
whelmed the  handful  of  rebels  on  the  west,  they  met  and  out- 
fought the  men  Lamb  brought  up  against  them  and  soon  were 
in  possession  of  the  traverses  and  earthworks  within  the  main 
fort,  and  thence  fought  on  until  the  battle  was  won. 

That  the  defense  should  have  so  stubbornly  continued  from 
4.30  P.  M.  to  10  o'clock  that  night  before  victory  became  com- 
plete made  us  proud  of  the  men  who  had  fought  against  us, 
for  their  courage  and  daring  was  that  of  Americans,  although 
their  cause  was  a  bad  one. 

The  gallantry  of  the  Confederates  there  was  not  only  shown 
in  that  hand-to-hand  fight  with  the  Army  on  the  parapet. 
Throughout  the  terrific  bombardment  their  guns  were  fought 
with  skill,  until  one  by  one  they  were  disabled;  the  turrets 
and  decks  of  the  monitors  bore  witness  to  the  rebels  cool, 


29 

accurate  aim;  one  of  them,  the  Canonicus,  having  been  struck 
thirty-six  times  in  the  fight,  whilst  many  other  vessels  bore 
the  marks  of  shot  and  shell. 

To  have  so  fought  under  the  storm  of  shell  from  fortv-four 
vessels  was  a  grand  test  of  courage,  even  for  veterans. 

The  next  day  the  smaller  vessels  passed  in  over  the  bar  into 
the  river.  Fort  Caswell  was  blown  up  by  its  garrison,  and  the 
batteries  on  Zeek's  and  Smith's  Islands  were  destroyed  and 
abandoned,  thus  putting  us  in  complete  control  of  the  two 
entrances  to  the  river. 

Cushing  set  the  range  signal  lights,  and  two  runners,  the 
Stag  and  the  Charlotte,  were  captured  the  first  night,  and  the 
Blenheim  on  the  third  night.  They  had  anchored,  and  were 
jubilating  on  the  happy  ending  of  their  trip,  when  our  board- 
ing officers  astounded  them  by  warm  welcomes  to  hospitalities 
as  our  prisoners. 

I  was  informed  the  next  day  after  the  victory  that  Cushing 
had  kept  his  promises  to  us  on  the  beach,  having  gone  at  once 
to  the  Flagship  Malvern,  where  he  detailed  to  the  Admiral 
what  he  had  seen  of  our  services  ashore  in  the  assault,  and  at 
the  same  time  he  congratulated  my  father,  who  was  present, 
on  the  safety  of  his  sons. 

Two  days  afterwards  the  Admiral  ordered  me  to  examina- 
tion for  promotion  before  a  board  of  which  Lieut.  John  Weid- 
man  was  the  president,  and,  being  favorably  reported  upon, 
I  received  my  promotion  to  the  rank  of  Acting  Master  within 
ten  days  thereafter  upon  reaching  the  Norfolk  Navy  Yard. 

I  had  been  placed  in  temporary  command  of  the  Gettysburg, 
and  carried  north  as  passengers  Commodore  John  Rodgers  and 
Brigadier  General  Barnard,  who  bore  to  the  Secretaries  of 
Navy  and  War  the  exact  details  of  our  glorious  victory. 

The  capture  of  Fort  Fisher  ended  blockade-running  on  the 


3o 

Atlantic  Coast.  In  that  crowning  combat  of  the  Navy's  work 
in  that  war  were  engaged  a  list  of  officers  whose  abilities  and 
brilliant  services  are  cherished  memories  of  the  service. 

There  were  Thatcher.  Radford,  Schenck,  Gordon,  Glisson, 
Sands,    Alden,    Almy,  Truxton,  Ramsay,    Self  ridge,    Temple 
Phelps,   Ridgeley,  Clitz  Weaver,  Belknap  and  Sicard;  all  of 
whom  I  have  known  throughout  their  subsequent  careers  in 
the  Navy,  which  carried  them  to  high  rank  and  honors. 

The  junior  officers  in  the  regular  line  who  served  there  have 
all  won  distinction  since,  and  to-day  the  survivors  of  them  are 
month  by  month  stepping  up  into  the  grade  of  Rear  Admirals, 
well  qualified  by  their  careers  to  maintain  the  prestige  of  their 
service  in  honor  and  glory. 

Were  I  to  attempt  to  enumerate  all  the  gallant  officers  of  the 
Volunteer  Navy  who,  whether  on  shipboard  or  in  the  land 
assault  upon  that  fort,  braved  death  and  wounds,  and  won 
commendation  for  their  courage  and  daring  and  efficiency,  this 
narrative  would  become  too  lengthy. 

They  were  men  whose  occupations  in  private  life  were 
peaceful;  but  in  that  time  of  their  country's  need  they  had 
responded  nobly.  They  filled  the  vessels  of  every  fleet,  and 
having  served  faithfully  (many  with  great  deserts  for  specially 
distinguished  services)  they,  at  the  ending  of  the  war,  retired 
quietly  from  service  with  their  country's  grateful  thanks  for 
their  duty  well  done. 


4       w^> 


PLAN 

second'Xttack 
fort  fisher 
Jan.13,14,15,1865. 

Showing  the  Position  of  Vessels 


J[4    ...      ,    ...  l..-J:J^„  ..-'■ 


jUll     Bg»jk  IMg""'  '2=3 


.    it 


